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This version was saved 11 years, 2 months ago View current version     Page history
Saved by Radian
on January 14, 2013 at 9:32:48 pm
 

 

 

                                                                                                             kayakamaran coming soon 

And hydrocat

build completed


Sea Kayak sailing   for speed

           Valley  Nordkapp _kayakamaran         

well its 2013,and winter is here,,it snowed today,,but dont let that stop you if you are missing your paddling

winter days are often very beautiful,chuck some warm clothes on and get out there

 

Redhousebluesband@hotmail.co.uk

kayakamaran

                                                


Hydrocat

I decided to make use of the windsurfing equipment

that wont be part of kayakamaran

and have built a car toppable

hydroplaning catamaran

this 6.0 metre sail has great wing shape and will give me confidence 

before i stick the bigger sail on

the aluminium frame can be shunted forward or back

this allows me to balance hydrocat,to any size sail


i would like to thank greg mckee and his 1980,s design (itzacat)

designed and built by greg mckee and alex cirrigottis
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JbOr46fV4n0

which inspired me to build hydrocat

greg has an impressive portfolio at

http://www.mckeewildthings.com/


hydrocat

with improved rudder mounts/plastic floor/board connectors/taller mast and seats

 hydrocat sits on the beach after a days testing ,the redesigns worked even better than i had hoped

as you can see from the pic ,there was a good wind blowing , 12 to 20 knots which was great fun

there is a sailing club for begginners about 500 yards from this spot , and thier sails are exactly the same colour as this lodey 6 mtr sail , they all kept close to the beach. so it was quite amusing to me when one of the instructors came racing out to me on a jetski , thinking that i was one of thier smaller craft - hahaa


The first test - i had know idea how it would behave

so i picked a day with fairly light winds to help me understand what it was doing

as you can see from the vid,this is the before the redesign.


after redesigning hydrocat,i took it out on a late evening tide

the vid quality is mobile phone - but as you can see it is working well in light winds

                                                            The next vid will be of full speed setup

                                                          in stronger wind conditions (coming soon)


 

there,s some video 

here

 video of the second test (after design improvements) here

http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#!/video/video.php?v=419937083558&ref=mf

 

kavan,the cameraman,reveiws the pics

both tacks ,jybe ,reach,broad reach,and every angle i could go

upwind,,downwind ,were all completed satisfactory 

HYDROCAT

 with redesigned rudder mounts,board connectors,plastic floor,seat,and taller mast


Speed test - kayak with V sail

Wind  --gusting--18 to 25 knots

waves -- i waited for the tide to drop till wave height was 1 ft,,water depth less than 3 ft

With the wind strength increasing and wave height at acceptable levels i popped the v sail up

the kayak took off rather more quickly than i thought it would,wonderful pulls of acceleration in the gusts

the odd touch of my paddle skimming for stability it was great to see two sheets of water flying from the bow

the sharp front of my valley nordkapp sea kayak cut through the bigger waves with ease

the sail was making some funny creaks and groans-and at one point i thought the lines were going to snap

but they held,,and i got my first taste of how the hull reacts above 12 knots

a look at the gps counter recorded 13 knots as a best--although it was a bit scary with no outriggers

 

ok-the warm weather is here and i can order the epoxy and fibreglass for the float build--i have 8 different size windsurfer sails to test with..it is great being out on the water testing this equipment in different configurations and conditions

 


some video of calmer conditions

 A trip to leigh on sea,,twas a nice and sunny day

YouTube plugin error


 

very strong aluminium angle stress frame

and rear t foil support section-a more accurate drawing will follow as the design evolves  

i managed to get 3 windsurfers from ebay for 25 pounds,with 5 masts,6 booms,8 sails and 4 drop skeggs

and a bag full of bits including mast extension and connectors/harness/spare fins/and other stuff--luck really

1 . 2 and 3 sail combinations will be tried out this summer-with me wearing upper body protection/lifejacket

i will cover all hard and nasty surfaces -so i do not injure myself-when the inevitable capsize/pitchpole occurs 


The Warren lightcraft is the closest thing

i have seen to what kayakamaran will be

http://www.youtube.com/user/warrenlightcraft

this is a neat little design and much better than the hobie adventure island

 my kayak is narrower and will be faster and accept more sail area,due to the wider beam

 

                          i think kayaks are perfect to fit hydrofoils too

     because of their very low weight

                                                               

There are some great hydrofoil profiles on the I.H.S hydrofoil website

http://www.foils.org/index.html

 calculating weight and lift ratios can be tricky-but

the web is like a big brain-and it has all the answers if you go looking


     good luck to team sailrocket for 2011 

      http://www.sailrocket.com/ 

         

      an inspiration to all


  1/10/2009 i will update this site as the build progresses     

             So why am i turning a 17 ft (valley--nordkapp) sea kayak

                               into a trimaran,why not just buy a boat- -the short answer to that is

i wanted to build something that was faster than the hobie adventure island 

                             My father built two planning speed boats in the back yard back in the 70.s

but it was summer 2009 that had its effect on me 


  my son came home one day looked up at me and said DAD!!.
   At this point my hand automatically felt for any loose change in my pocket.  
iv,e just been out on my friends inflatable kayak.somewhat relieved and surprised i asked him 
if he enjoyed it and,was he wearing a buoyancy aid or lifejacket. IT WAS AMAZING came the reply.
His enthusiasm and non stop talking for the next twenty minuets revealed a passion in him for sailing,kayaking,canoeing.Ok im,e off down the park (front door slam) . i think i stood there for a couple of minuets just taking in what he had said and it slowly dawned on me that something had sparked in my mind.  
The next day saw me trawling the internet in search of inflatable kayaks, i soon realised i wanted one NOW !!so i walked round the corner to the boat shop on the seafront and as luck would have it,they had one ,and it was a good one.A two seat spree 2 ,by stearns.After some impatient opening of the box and some pumping we
were good to go,so with me one end and my son the other,we walked it over to the beach,.a quick shove and of we went,only mildly aware of all the onlookers on the beach,And he was right about kayaking being fantastic,its so peaceful and at the same time exiting ,After weeks of thorough enjoyment,my appetite for this sport was well and truly wetted (excuse the pun)

So there i am again on the wibbly wobbly web (ebay) when i spot a 17 foot sea kayak,a valley nordkapp   

and after much bidding and finger biting i find myself driving down to hampshire to pick it up   

and enjoying the rest of the summer in a great looking kayak 

 

What happens next is what this site is about

and here she is before the work starts


 

 

                                         Long  slim  and very fast-the valley nordkapp (north cape)

                              its an early nordkapp HM,the back has been modified for the rudder upgrade 

if you are thinking of doing something like this, safe distribution of loads must be top priority

sails can generate huge forces,these forces must be transmitted into forward motion through your craft

these loads would snap this kayak like a twig,so the loads will be taken up by a strong aluminium frame

attached to this frame will be the skeggs and rudder-and eventually hydrofoils and hydrofoil rudder 

with the strengthened kayak acting only as buoyancy 

 

1. fibreglass boats are easier to work on,repair,and fix things to

 but will need to be strengthened to cope with the higher speeds

polyethelene kayaks are much stronger,but will still need some strength added

2.A longer boat will be more stable and except more sail area

3.try to spend as little as possible on your chosen craft,it makes drilling holes in it less painfull

4.my sail/outriggers/and floats will all be detachable for easy transportation and fast set up

and because i will also be using the kayak on its own

 

my budget for this build including the kayak is 350 english pounds.

incredibly i am still well under this at 248 pounds

i still have the hydrofoils and streamlined floats to build,but i am doing all the work myself.

buying a dedicated carbon fibre craft may well happen for 2011

of course you can go out and buy a kayak trimaran off the shelf

like the hobie adventure island/if you have three thousand pounds knocking about in your biscuit tin

but i dont , plus i want to go faster than 12 knots and be able to add more sail if needed

so if this floats your boat (heh)  click on ,building the kayakamarans parts, on the navigator on the right and check out the pages in that folder,

---------------------------------------- 

The uk has a wealth of coastline to experience 

its waiting for you,,the right clothing will keep you warm as toast

and some friends,a nice fire,and food on the beach will wake your spirit

 

just do it 

 

after it is built and tested i will be building three hydrofoils that will bolt onto the aluminium outrig arms

with a rudder T hydrofoil at the stern 


this kayak handled everything i threw at it last summer and never tried to dunk me

somebody was foolish enough to tell me i was not experienced enough after 2 months

to be going out to far having never been in a kayak before

so i thought i would row to kent -just me- find a beach  - and put a tent up for the night

 

 7 kilometers to the other side

i launched from southend sea life centre 

 had to wait at the shipping lane for a huge ferry to pass

luckily he spotted me and slowed a bit to reduce the bow wave

if they dont,,you have to point the kayak at the approaching wave and ride it

the two holds contained/tent,food,water,sleeping bag,lights,portable stove,

tea sugar milk,and chocolate,and a dry bag with torches/mobile phone/radio etc 

there was plenty of fish around and the water quality looked good

keeping a close watch on the environment is good practice

i found a sandy half moon shaped beach,put the tent up and gathered some firewood

once the fire was going i changed out of the wetsuit into some warm clothes and contemplated the view

 over to southend on sea with a huge mug of tea,and some chocolate,the tranquility was astounding.

The large stones i placed around the fire were placed inside the tent on some dry seaweed

they served as exellent heaters during the night

in the morning i was rewarded with a southerly wind when it was time to depart

the blue v sail on the front of the kayak took me back to southend with a nice 5 knot breeze

i stowed the paddle,sat back and finished off the rest of the food,rolled a couple of smokes

enjoying the morning sun ,my feet steering the rudder

wonderful

 

next time i will be catching some fish and cooking them on the beach

and a fresh lemon sauce prepaired beforehand 

oh ,and a bottle of red

 

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